Title: [Plugin: wp pear debug] Useful information
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# [Plugin: wp pear debug] Useful information

 *  [silasco](https://wordpress.org/support/users/silasco/)
 * (@silasco)
 * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-pear-debug-useful-information/)
 * I have often found myself trying new things and having to endure much frustration
   because of the absence of good tutorials for noobies. Therefore, I have decided
   to create a few posts demonstrating the use of the wp-pear-debug plugin while
   explaining a few concepts.
 * The most obvious gotcha about this plugin is that it will not work with php5.
   This means that all you guys still using wordpress on php4 are out of luck. So
   please don’t be hasty to report the plugin as broken as this may be your issue.
 * Another issue is, despite the fact that it is a debugger, the plugin still relies
   on the successful interpretation of php code. Therefore, making a call to the
   debugger to add debug information may not always be successful. Here is an example
   to illustrate.
 *     ```
       //Block of code with syntax error
       $foo = array('bar';
   
       //Call to wp-pear-debug
       wp_pear_debug::dump($foo);
       ```
   
 * The above call to the wp-pear-debug library will not be executed because of the
   syntax error in the previous block of code.
 * Another thing to note is that sql queries not made using the wpdb class will 
   not appear in the list of sql queries displayed by the debugger. In order to 
   add custom queries to the debugger, you must use the following in your code:
 *     ```
       //This will appear in debug query listing
       $wpdb->get_row($wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE ID = %d LIMIT 1", $post));
   
       //Here is how to add queries not making use of $wpdb
       //define query
       $sql = "select * from mycustomtable";
       //add query to debugger
       wp_pear_debug::query($sql);
       //execute query
       $rs = mysql_query($sql);
       ```
   
 * Despite the fact that a query is executed using the wpdb class it may still not
   appear in the list of executed queries. This really depends on the point in the
   script the sql query is executed. The plugin is initialized as soon as plugins
   are loaded but some queries are executed before this and therefore may not be
   recorded. Here is how you handle this:
    Define the following in your wp-config.
   php
 *     ```
       define('SAVEQUERIES',true);
       ```
   
 * Still after all this there is no guarantee all the queries will appear in the
   debugger. This is again because of the point in the script where the query is
   being executed. The debugger interface is being rendered at the wp_footer hook.
   Therefore the saved queries are gathered and added to the debugger instance right
   before this. Any queries executed after this point will not be included.
 * Despite the above mentioned constrains, I still hope this plugin will be as useful
   to others as it is to me.
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-pear-debug/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-pear-debug/)

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [Roland Fauster](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rfauster/)
 * (@rfauster)
 * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-pear-debug-useful-information/#post-1346859)
 * Hi
 * I would love to use this Plugin on WPMU but I can not enable Debuggin with it
   on 2.8.6. MU Installation (Fresh and Clean tried)..
 * I can activate without problem but after that when I try enabling in the settings
   I get an error message!
 * Could you look into that maybe!?
 * Cheers
 *  Thread Starter [silasco](https://wordpress.org/support/users/silasco/)
 * (@silasco)
 * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-pear-debug-useful-information/#post-1346934)
 * Unfortunately the plugin will activate fine in MU but the method used to save
   the settings seems to not be compatible. However, I can look into it and possibly
   create a branch for wordpress mu.
 *  Thread Starter [silasco](https://wordpress.org/support/users/silasco/)
 * (@silasco)
 * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-pear-debug-useful-information/#post-1346948)
 * It just hit me that if you were to submit to a page which subsequently redirects
   then your debug information will not display on the final destination. There 
   may be a way to display debug information from the previous request by storing
   the information temporarily in the session. I will probably add in a few functions
   to make this possible in the 1.5 release if redirects are a real issue for people
   attempting to debug pages.
 * Off the top of my head, the present debug interface may not be suitable for this
   and therefore may require some enhancements. The possibility exists for a history
   tab which allows you to view debug information for previous requests.
 * The above interface change is a perfect opportunity for me to attempt to populate
   the debug bar using ajax. This would mean that all debug information would be
   placed in a history stack that can be readily accessed from the client side. 
   Also, it should then alleviate the issue of missing queries and debug information
   which occur after the wp_footer hook which renders the debugger.
 *  [Jens Wedin](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jedisthlm/)
 * (@jedisthlm)
 * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-pear-debug-useful-information/#post-1347064)
 * Thanks for the plugin!
 * Just a note. You need the
 * `<?php wp_footer(); ?>`
 * In the footer.php for this plugin to work.
 *  Thread Starter [silasco](https://wordpress.org/support/users/silasco/)
 * (@silasco)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-pear-debug-useful-information/#post-1347078)
 * > Thanks for the plugin!
   > Just a note. You need the
   > <?php wp_footer(); ?>
   > In the footer.php for this plugin to work.
 * Do people really have templates that do not include wp_footer() ? I may have 
   to add in an option for the admin to add in the name of a custom render hook.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘[Plugin: wp pear debug] Useful information’ is closed to new replies.

 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [silasco](https://wordpress.org/support/users/silasco/)
 * Last activity: [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-pear-debug-useful-information/#post-1347078)
 * Status: not a support question

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